Highlights Sustain. 2022, 1, 54–64. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain1020005 https://www.hos.pub Article Island Tourism: Vulnerable or Resistant to Overtourism? Richard W. Butler 1,* and Rachel Dodds 2 1 School of Business, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0LG, UK; E-Mail: richard.butler@strath.ac.uk 2 School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada; E-Mail: r2dodds@ryerson.ca * For correspondence. Abstract Islands have long attracted tourists and some islands rank amongst the most visited places in the world. Such popularity has created problems of overdevelopment and tourism at unsustainable levels, leading to the phenomenon of overtourism. Traditionally islands could rely on natural features to limit tourist numbers but this is increasingly not the case today, therefore, this paper reviews how changes in attitude, access and media coverage have led to problems of excessive visitation. The paper discusses the failure to create and implement appropriate policies which might mitigate against such developments and notes the inherent long-term problems many island authorities have traditionally faced when trying to improve economic conditions for their residents. The paper concludes that more specific action in terms of policy goals and imple- mentation are needed if islands are to avoid the issues of unsustainable development and over- tourism currently being experienced in many mainland tourist destinations. Keywords islands; sustainable tourism; overtourism; vulnerability; pressures; development; controls 1. Introduction Islands have long been considered attractive tourism destinations, yet their size and geograph- ical isolation have also often contributed to a lack of control over many issues that afflict them. Such issues have sometimes left islands vulnerable to external forces, and this paper explores the specific issue of overtourism to islands in the light of characteristics of islands in general. It begins with a discussion of both endogenous and exogenous forces that drive the development of islands, focusing on the difficulties many island destinations face in controlling the level and type of tour- ism development. The paper addresses the ways in which islands might control tourism develop- ment, and in particular, the problem of overdevelopment. Contributory factors in the context of islands include a small land area and limited opportunity to engage in alternative economic ac- tivities, which can leave them often heavily dependent on tourism [1]. Islands are often also heavily subject to external controls, both economic and political, thus suggesting that islands could be considered more vulnerable than most tourist destinations to experience excessive de- velopment and tourist numbers far beyond their capacity to control and manage. Overtourism is one form of unsustainable tourism that has been recorded on islands in a variety of forms for many years including excessive numbers of tourists and resident unrest over recent years [2–4], suggesting that islands are particularly vulnerable to problems relating to unsustainable levels and forms of tourism. 2. Island Vulnerability There are five key factors which place many islands as highly vulnerable locations, namely: limited population, limited area, limited natural resources, lack of control and geographic loca- tion. First, many islands are small, both in area and in population, which makes them potentially vulnerable to a number of pressures, not least of which is often a significant number of visitors [5]. A limited local population on a small land area means that what might be considered mod- erate numbers of tourists elsewhere may be highly noticeable and therefore represent visibly in- creased pressure on facilities and resources on a small island. Often these facilities and associated infrastructure on islands have been developed and designed for a small number of local residents Received: 24 February 2022 Accepted: 27 April 2022 Published: 29 April 2022 Academic Editor Deborah Edwards, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Copyright: © 2022 Butler and Dodds. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Li- cense (CC BY 4.0), which per- mits unrestricted use and distribu- tion provided that the original work is properly cited.